Bluesfest goes back to basics

[Cosmic ChrisC]

Failed expansion prompts event to retrench; Birdman Stage out, acoustic tent considered

Lynn Saxberg

The Ottawa Citizen

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

After last year's ill-fated plan to expand Ottawa's popular Bluesfest to other cities, organizers are sticking close to home this summer. They've also decided against dedicating one of the Ottawa festival's four outdoor stages to underground rock, and are instead considering the revival of an acoustic stage.

Bluesfest executive director Mark Monahan, who attempted to expand Bluesfest to Toronto, Wasaga Beach and Sudbury last summer, was disappointed by the response outside Ottawa. The turnout to Wasaga Beach was dismal, Toronto was cancelled at the last minute because of slow sales and Sudbury was scaled back from two stages to one.

"I think the sense is that what we have in Ottawa is difficult to capture somewhere else and we all feel here that we need to concentrate on Ottawa and just build on our success," Monahan says.

Since the first festival in 1994, Bluesfest has grown into one of the biggest music festivals in North America, attracting crowds of 20,000 or more people each day. For 10 days, hundreds of acts perform on a main stage and three sidestages on the grounds of City Hall.

Two years ago, the festival trumpeted the programming input of two well-connected grassroots promoters. Paul Symes, owner of Wakefield's Black Sheep Inn, was brought in to create the eclectic Black Sheep stage, while John Westhaver, owner of Birdman Sound in the Glebe, was given the job of filling the Birdman stage with punk, garage and other underground styles.

Westhaver found out a month ago that the Birdman stage would be scrapped.

"I feel privileged that I was involved for a couple of years and I understand the reasons for people needing to shed stuff, but ... it takes more than two years to build anything," he said, speculating that the financial problems of the out-of-town festivals made it necessary to cut back this year.

But Monahan says it's business as usual leading up to the 12th Bluesfest. "We're not planning on any different budget for Ottawa."

He says he decided it was important to offer diversity on all the stages, despite growing attendance at the Birdman stage between 2003 and 2004.

"I think what's worked well on a lot of the stages is the ability to mix up the lineup," he said. "We felt that as opposed to devoting a stage entirely to Birdman, we'd rather still feature some of that style of music, but split it up between stages.

"We know from our surveys, when we devote one stage to a certain style of music, sometimes there's a limited appeal to our overall festival crowd."

He compares the loss of Birdman to the demise of the gospel stage a couple of years ago: "A similar argument was that devoting a stage to gospel for the duration of the event was not always the best use of the resources."

The Birdman stage was located alongside Elgin Street on a strip of lawn next to the human rights monument. Monahan feels the area might be more suitable for a large tent with seats.

"One of the things that we know from last year, a lot of people commented on the fact that there was no acoustic stage," he said. "This could be acoustic. It could be ideally featuring different styles of music that we don't feature on other stages."

Monahan hopes Westhaver will continue to be part of the programming committee, but Westhaver isn't sure he's interested.

The festival director has also been in talks with Zaphod Beeblebrox's Eugene Haslam for input, but said there are no plans to replace the Birdman stage with a Zaphod's stage.

The Black Sheep and Roots stages are again part of this year's festival, slated for July 8 to 17. The lineup is expected to be announced in April.

Monahan refused to divulge the names of any artists, but hinted at some "interesting programming themes."

[Ms.Huxtable]

Hmmm, I can't remember seeing anything that I really enjoyed on the birdman stage anyway. If it means more money going towards other stages, then this is a good call I think.

[AdamH]

Ha, and I say Boo! because I loved the Birdman stage every year. Reverend Glasseye, Zen Guerilla, The Recoilers, The soledad brothers, The Dirtbombs...on and on goes the list. The music was original, really loud, and everyone on stage was drunk. I thought that's what a Bluesfest would be all about, not lawnchairs and Tilley hats.

Honestly though, I'm sad to see it go because it really kicked my ass the last few years.

[Booche]

Spill it Polkaroo.

I want the dirt on who you have heard is coming here.

[bouche]

I provided a few discs and suggested a Jamband stage 2 years ago to one of the organizers that used to work with us and he said they woudl probably have something like that within a couple of years.

Now, I wonder if this 'underground rock' stage would be the one for the jazzy groovy jambands this year!

Burt Neilson Band, Grand Theft Bus, Jimmy Swift Band, Nero Reunion (I'll be in denial forever), The Tummies, Stephen Franke, Themasses, High Plains Drifter (and many more!)

[Ms.Huxtable]

I always thought of the Blacksheep Stage as the "jamband" stage.

[AdamH]

Bouche, if I told you that a stage like that makes me puke how would you feel?

I do love the jambands, but the strongest aspect of Bluesfest is that you're introduced to bands and musicians the world over that you know nothing about. It instills that sort of magic and sense of adventure that you don't get seeing a band you know something, even anything about.

[ollie]

I liked the Birdman Stage so this is bad news to me. I also liked that it was a little "dirtier" than the other stages and lawnchairs were few and far between. It also made for a convenient puffing area.

[Ms.Huxtable]

I do love the jambands, but the strongest aspect of Bluesfest is that you're introduced to bands and musicians the world over that you know nothing about. It instills that sort of magic and sense of adventure that you don't get seeing a band you know something, even anything about.

Well having the artists that Bouche listed play, wouldn't be new to our small group, but the festival gets 20,000 people a day. I'm sure the jambands would be new and appealing to them. ::

[AD]

Bouche, if I told you that a stage like that makes me puke how would you feel?

Word up, I totally agree... I don't want to see the same old stuff at the BluesFest. It's all good of course, but bring in bands from all over the world that no-one has ever seen...

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[Booche]

How about a Hip-Hop stage?

[MarcO]

Here's a cool photo from Lyle Lovett's performance from last year's Bluesfest.

Do not open this at work!

I dunno, I think I'd be most inclined to hang round the mainstage. Seems sexier. ::

[bouche]

the strongest aspect of Bluesfest is that you're introduced to bands and musicians the world over that you know nothing about. It instills that sort of magic and sense of adventure that you don't get seeing a band you know something, even anything about.

Completely true and that is exactly as Ms.Hux said what I believe in too. They wouldn't be playing just for fans of the genre, but to bring in some new appreciation from other people.

There aren't ANY of these live touring bands on the bill.

[AD]

There's nobody on the bill yet...

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[AdamH]

Bouche I admittedly walked right into that one by giving a description equally suited to people who haven't heard the bands you mention. You are talking about a Jambands stage though, and that's not something I'm interested in seeing as for the most part each Bluesfest stage has booked acts across multiple genres. To have had Taj Mahal and Wyclef play the Roots stage for instance.

I don't think Jambands have been that underrepresented in the past few years, but with the bands you're talking about it could just be a question of best fit, or auditions that don't reflect the band. That's a PC way of saying if their auditions or demo tapes are shite then it's not that surprising they don't end up on one of the stages.

[gentlemonkey]

they did have newdeal, antibalas, robert randolph, allmans in one year. thats pretty stellar jammy-representation.

I saw a few bands i loved at the birdman.. but hopefully it works out for the best!